Humphrey Blodwell

Humphrey Blodwell was a Royalist soldier during the English Civil War. He fought at the Second Battle of Newbury in 1644, during which he took part in the defense of Shaw House against the Parliamentarian army; he claimed that the Royalists had the advantage of being unafraid of defeat. He went on to fight at the 1645 Battle of Naseby, where he witnessed the first Parliamentarian force break and flee while serving as an infantryman. He took part in the hand-to-hand fighting at the crest of a key hill, and he witnessed the Bluecoats' brave stand against the entire rebel army. He later recorded his uncertainty about the country's future after King Charles I of England's decisive defeat.